In an interview with The Economist this week president Donald Trump inadvertently communicated that he occupies a whole other level of illiteracy and egotism. Apparently he reads so little that the phrase “prime the pump” and the concept behind it was only distantly accessible to his… “brain.” And he’s so presumptuous and conceited that, being unable to recall any previous usage of the phrase (over the course of several days and a number of policy discussions!!), he had come to the conclusion that he probably coined the phrase, too… It is truly frightening (no longer funny) how epic a moron we now have as president. Even more scary is the number of Trump voters who will actually believe that he did coin the phrase…

Another part of your overall plan, the tax reform plan. Is it OK if that tax plan increases the deficit? Ronald Reagan’s tax reform didn’t.
Well, it actually did. But, but it’s called priming the pump. You know, if you don’t do that, you’re never going to bring your taxes down. Now, if we get the health-care [bill through Congress], this is why, you know a lot of people said, “Why isn’t he going with taxes first, that’s his wheelhouse?” Well, hey look, I convinced many people over the last two weeks, believe me, many Congressmen, to go with it. And they’re great people, but one of the great things about getting health care is that we will be saving, I mean anywhere from $400bn to $900bn.

Mr Mnuchin: Correct.

President Trump: That all goes into tax reduction. Tremendous savings.

But beyond that it’s OK if the tax plan increases the deficit?
It is OK, because it won’t increase it for long. You may have two years where you’ll…you understand the expression “prime the pump”?

Yes.We have to prime the pump.

It’s very Keynesian.
We’re the highest-taxed nation in the world. Have you heard that expression before, for this particular type of an event?

Priming the pump?Yeah, have you heard it?

Yes.Have you heard that expression used before? Because I haven’t heard it. I mean, I just…I came up with it a couple of days ago and I thought it was good.It’s what you have to do.

It’s…Yeah, what you have to do is you have to put something in before you can get something out.